Latvia and Belarus look to boost rail freight connections

A new express rail freight service which promises delivery times of 28 hours between the Latvian capital Riga and the Belarussian capital Minsk completed a second test journey this week following an inaugural trip between Minsk and Riga in January.

The containers were from India and provided by German logistics company, RTSB, and Belarusian operator, Belintertrans. Latvian Railways (LDZ) says this collaboration is evidence of efforts to attract new partners from south Asia, which opens up opportunities to develop new freight solutions and the Latvian transport and logistics sector.

“The creation of a new product - an express freight train between the capitals of Latvia and Belarus - ensures that the owners of freight who would like to use the connection will be able to count on a definite and clear timetable of freight transport in the future,” says LDZ president Mr Edvīns Bērziņš. “The long-term goal is to ensure the regular flow of freight on this route, whose future potential will increase with the development of the Chinese-Belarusian industrial park, The Great Stone.”

Rail freight volumes on the Indra-Bigosava route between Latvia and Belarus totalled 7.6 million tonnes in 2017, an increase year-on-year of 13.9%.